These Vintage Images Show Just How Much Department Stores Have Changed

November 6, 2014 7:57 PM

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One of the fondest memories from my childhood was going to the Wanamaker's store in Philadelphia for lunch with my grandmother. We'd go right around every holiday to find me a frilly holiday dress, then visit the store's tea room for a light snack. When I tell this story to others, it's as if I told them that my grandmother and I regularly traveled to the moon. Their brains cannot compute that a department store would have anything but a sad food counter (anyone ever been to a Target?). And frilly holiday dresses? Who am I, Shirley Temple?

A view of the famous organ at the former Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia. It's now a Macy's.